General Assembly passes bill to end tax breaks for organizations that honor Confederacy

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- The Virginia General Assembly has passed a bill that would end some tax exemptions for organizations that honor the Confederacy. With Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) having vetoed similar legislation last year, the measure's future is uncertain.

On Friday, Feb. 7, the Virginia Senate voted 21-17 along party lines -- with two Republican senators not voting -- to advance House Bill 1699. As the House of Delegates already advanced the bill earlier this session, this legislation is now ready for Youngkin's consideration.

HB 1699, if signed into law, would require several organizations that honor the Confederacy to pay certain real estate and property taxes. They are currently exempt from doing so.

Those organizations include:

• The Virginia Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy
• The General Organization of the United Daughters of the Confederacy
• The Confederate Memorial Literary Society
• The Stonewall Jackson Memorial, Inc.
• Sons of Confederate Veterans
• The J.E.B. Stuart Birthplace Preservation Trust, Inc.

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This is not the first time legislation like this has made it through the General Assembly. In 2024, a similar bill was passed by both legislative chambers.

However, it was ultimately vetoed by Youngkin, who said in his veto statement that he believed the tax exemption process needed broad reform, as opposed to the legislature moving to "narrowly [target] specific organizations."

HB 1699's patron, Del. Alex Askew (D-Virginia Beach) -- who also carried the House version of the 2024 bill -- said, while speaking before the House on Jan. 23, that this is about creating more revenue sources for the government.

"This bill does not challenge the [United Daughters of the Confederacy's] right to exist," he said. "It's not about free speech [or] taking down monuments. The Commonwealth can better allocate resources [tax dollars] to be utilized to fund schools, workplace development or mental health programs."

In addition to his belief that those tax dollars could benefit Virginia, Askew previously told 8News that he does not think tax relief should go to organizations that "[perpetuate] falsehoods about the Civil War."

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“Why, as a Commonwealth are we supporting groups that rewrite history to obscure the true cause of the Civil War? A war to uphold the institution of slavery -- America’s original sin,” Askew told 8News.

In a statement previously given to 8News, the United Daughters of the Confederacy said removing it and other like-minded organizations' tax exemptions would be “unfair and discriminatory to the descendants of soldiers who responded to the legislature’s call in 1861 to defend their state.”

Youngkin will make a decision on this bill in the coming weeks. Should he veto it, the General Assembly would need a two-thirds majority to overturn his veto and push the bill through.